Columbia University acting President Claire Shipman was met with loud boos and chants of “Free Mahmoud” as she took to the stage at a graduation ceremony Tuesday morning.
Social media videos and the school’s ceremony recording showed Shipman walking to the lectern to speak at Columbia College’s graduation ceremony. The cheers and applause, however, were quickly overshadowed by one minute of loud jeering and clamoring and later chants of “Free Mahmoud!”
The chants were in reference to Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia graduate student who was detained in March by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at his New York City apartment.
“Good morning, Class of 2025. I know that many of you feel some amount of frustration with me, and I know you feel it with the administration,” Shipman said, earning another round of boos.
“And I know that we have a strong, strong tradition of free speech at this university. And I am always open to feedback, which I am getting right now,” Shipman continued, gesturing to the crowd.
About 10 minutes later, the crowd erupted in chants of “Free Mahmoud.” Shipman paused until the chants quieted and continued without acknowledging the shouting.
Khalil is a Syrian-born green card holder who helped organize pro-Palestinian rallies on Columbia’s campus last year. Since his high-profile arrest, he’s been held in a detention center in Louisiana and has been fighting his detention and deportation. His arrest came amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on foreign students who are perceived as a threat to U.S. foreign policy.
At the close of Shipman’s speech, she was met with another chorus of boos and jeers.
The ceremony Tuesday morning was to honor the Class of 2025.
Columbia will hold its commencement ceremony Wednesday for the graduates of the Ivy League’s 19 schools, colleges and affiliate institutions.
The prestigious university has been the center of controversy following protests decrying the Israel-Hamas war and the detention of several students amid Trump’s crackdown.
Another student at the center of the administration’s crackdown on student activists graduated from the school this week.
Mohsen Mahdawi, a 34-year-old U.S. permanent resident who was born and raised in a refugee camp in the West Bank, was detained during a citizenship interview in Vermont on April 14. He was freed on bail last month after a judge ordered his release.
Less than three weeks after his release, Mahdawi walked the stage at his graduation from Columbia University on Monday morning, proudly wearing a keffiyeh. The Associated Press reported that he earned his bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Columbia’s School of General Studies.
“Columbia gave me access to resources and spaces that helped shape me. But it also punished me for using my voice,” he said in a statement Tuesday. “I was harassed, surveilled, and isolated—for daring to speak about the realities of life under occupation, for saying that Palestinians deserve to live in dignity. I come from the West Bank. I know what it means to be told your life doesn’t matter. And when Columbia silenced students like me — when it treated our grief and outrage as threats — it mirrored the same systems we’re resisting.”
Mahdawi said the university is also an inspiring place, full of courageous people. “Students who risked everything to protest injustice. Faculty who stood up. Staff who quietly supported us. That’s the Columbia I’m proud to be part of. And I’ll continue to challenge this institution to live up to its values—long after this graduation.”
